Stenographic copyholder



Patented July 10, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STENOGRAPHIC COPYHOLDER Robert B. Warner and Samuel Ford, Los Angeles,

Calif., assignors to Ford Warner Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Nevada Application October 2, 1948, Serial No. 52,566

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a copy holder for stenographers and typists and has for its principal object the provision of a highly eflicient copy holding easel having a line guide member which will move downwardly over the page being copied in line intervals of any desired spacing.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the device that all gears, toothed racks, cams, etc., will be eliminated so as to provide a long-lived, trouble free, fool proof device.

A further object is to provide a copy holder of this type in which the paper sheets being copied can be quickly and easily inserted and to provide an operating handle which can be quickly and easily adjusted to bring it within convenient reach of any particular stenographer.

A still further object is to so construct the device that it can be folded fiat to occupy a minimum of space when being shipped or stored.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efiiciency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing;

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the improved copy holder illustrating it as it would appear in use;

Fig. 2 is a rear view thereof in the folded position;

Fig. 3 is a side view thereof in the open position;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken on the line 44, Fig. 2, illustrating the actuating mechanism employed in the unopened copy holder;

. Fig. 5 is a similar detail section taken on the line 5-5, Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a similar detail section taken on the line 6-6, Fig. 2; and

Fig. 7 is a detail view illustrating the construction Of an adjustable operating handle employed in the holder.

The improved stenographers copy holder employs a back board or easel l0 supported at its bottom on suitable legs ll terminating in rubber desk cushions [2. The easel I0 is supported at any desired incline by means of folding arm brackets [3 which are foldably mounted on hinge pins 52 on the rear of the easel adjacent the bottom thereof. A leaf spring 5! acts against the brackets [3 to maintain them in either the folded or extended positions. A bracket arm I i is adjustably secured to each arm bracket is by means of a clamp screw E5. The arms Hi terminate in rubber desk engaging buttons it. It can be readily seen that by loosening the screws 55 the angle of the arms Hi may be varied with the plane of the easel in so as to support the easel ill at any desired angle.

The paper sheet to be copied is supported on the front face of the easel It by means of a clamp bar I! supported from supporting arms I8, which extend over the top of the easel it! from hinge ears on the back thereof. The rear extremities of the arms I3 extend outwardly from the ears l9 to receive tension springs 20 which at to urge the bar [1 toward the easel Hi to clamp the paper sheet thereagainst. The inner face of the bar IT is lined with rubber bumps 2| which engage the sheet on the easel.

The line being copied is indicated by means of a line guide plate 22 which is rotatably mounted on a traveling rod 23 which extends through hinge-like sleeves 24 on the guide plate 22. The

rod 23 extends through and forms a shaft for a roller 25 which rolls along the far edge of the front face of the sheet. v

The rod 23 is supported from an angle plate '26 at the near side of the easel Ii). The angle plate 26 is mounted on a carriage member 21 which slidably overlies the front edge of the easel and having guide ears 28 which slidably engage the rear edge of the easel H). A shaftlike boss 29 is formed on the inside of the angle plate 26. A stud 33 is threaded into the extremity of the boss 29 and acts as a bearing shaft for a friction roller 3|. The head of the stud 30 constantly compresses a spring 32 against the roller 3| to resist rotation of the latter.

The periphery of the roller 3| is grooved so as to travel along a friction rod 33 extending vertically along the back of the easel [0. The friction on the roller 3|, caused by the spring 32, is sufficient to support the line guide plate 22 so as to maintain the latter stationary on the face of the easel In.

A reciprocating rod 34 extends upward vertically parallel to the friction rod 33 from a hinged connection with a rocking lever 35. The rocking lever 35 is hingedly mounted on a lever bracket 36 at the rear of the easel l0 and extends forwardly around the right side thereof. A tension spring 31 is secured to the upper extremity of the reciprocating rod 34 and constantly urges .line space.

the rod and the lever 35 upwardly. A stop lug 43 limits the downward movement of the rocking lever.

A clutch plate 49 is rotatably mounted on the boss 29 and is provided with a finger tab 38 which extends forwardly through an opening 39 in the plate 26. The rod 34 extends through an opening in the clutch plate 40 and the latter is forced downwardly, so that the opening in the plate will grip the rod 33, by means of a leaf spring 4|.

A fixed finger hold 42 is positioned above the tab 38 so that if the latter two members are gripped between the thumb and forefinger, the clutch plate 49 will be swung upwardly to allow the clutch plate to be freely moved upwardly and downwardly therealong to raise and lower the line guide plate 22.

It will be noted that each time the rockinglever 35 is forced downwardly against the stop 43 it will pull the reciprocating rod 34 downwardly and since this rod is gripped by the plate 40 the line guide member 22 will move downward with it. As soon as the pressure is relieved on the lever 35 the spring 37 will pull the reciprocating rod 34 upwardly through the clutch plate 40 without moving the line guide plate 22.

Therefore, at each downward movement the line guide plate will move downward a pre-set The amount of line space can be pre-set by means of a set screw 44 which can be adjusted to limit the upward movement of the lever 35 to any desired arc.

Convenient operating access may be had to the rocking lever 35 by means of a finger button 45 which is supported from an adjustable arm consisting of two arm portions 46 and 41 vertically hinged together by means of an adjustable clamping knuckle 48. The arm portion 41 is adjustably secured on the rocking lever 35 by means of an attachment nut 49. This allows the finger button to be positioned at any desired position to suit the peculiarities of any given stenographer. Its vertical position can be adjusted by means of the knuckle 48 and its horizontal position can be similarly adjusted by means of the nut 49.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to .be

:understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claim, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus'described the invention, what is 4 V claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

In a copy holder, a back board, and means for supporting the back board upright at a desired rearward incline, comprising: brackets extending rearwardiy from said back board and located at lower ends of opposite side edge portions of the back board, each bracket carrying a vertically disposed hinge pin; arms each having front and rear sections, the front sections of said 'arms being pivotaliy mounted about the pins of the companion brackets for horizontal swinging movement from an extended position rearwardly from'the back board to a folded position transversely of the board, the front sections having front end portions overlapping side faces of rear ends of the front sections and connected there with by clamping screws passing transversely through the overlapping portions of the front and rear sections and serving to pivotally mount the rear sections for vertical tilting movement and firmly secure the rear sections in angularly adjustedpositions, the front sections of each of the supporting arms being formed at its pivoted end with a flat end face and with a lateral extension constituting a lug and a reinforcement; and a leaf spring extending across the lower end of the back board and having ends extending between thebrackets and the pivoted ends of the front sections and engageable by the flat ends of the front sections and the outer ends of the lugs to yieldably resist swing movement of the arms from extended and folded positions.

ROBERT B. WARNER,

SAMUEL FORD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Glassey Sept. 10, 1940 

